Falls on Snow and Ice

A slip and fall on snow and ice can leave you or a loved one with severe and painful injuries, which can rack up costly medical expenses, jeopardize your employment or generally disrupt your life in a significantly negative way. At Altman & Altman LLP, we help clients from the Greater Boston Area who have been victims to slips and falls, especially during the winter months. Based in Cambridge, we’re certainly no stranger to these accidents, and we can help you towards a successful injury claim.

Can all Slip and Falls on Snow or ice Lead to Financial Compensation?

The Supreme Judicial Court, the highest court in Massachusetts, made a key change in snow and ice law in 2010 that makes it easier for plaintiffs to get compensation for these injuries. They effectively eliminated the traditional distinction between “natural” and “unnatural” accumulations of snow or ice. Before this case, a Boston-area plaintiff had the burden of proving that the snow or ice on which they fell accumulated unnaturally, meaning that it was in some kind of abnormal or man-made state. Think if a business had shoveled all of the snow from in front of their door onto the sidewalk, causing a hazard.

Now, with the law change, a Massachusetts defendant can be held liable for a slip and fall injury even if the snow or ice was in its natural condition (meaning the way it fell or froze), provided their conduct was provably unreasonable, unsafe or negligent.

How do I Prove Negligence?

Negligence occurs when someone, in most cases a property owner or manager, breaches his or her duty of care to keep those on the property reasonably safe. Whether the snow or ice accumulated naturally or unnaturally, negligence is actionable when a person suffers injury as a result of the actions of the property owner or manager.

This could mean that the property owner failed to adequately shovel a sidewalk, failed to clean up a puddle of water that resulted from people tracking in snow, or failed to ice a walkway on their property that would reasonably become icy after frigid weather. In all of these cases, the responsibility is on the property owner to ensure they take steps to avoid slip and falls that are likely to occur.

Let our Experienced Team Help you Today

If you have suffered from a slip and fall on snow and ice, seek medical attention first. Afterwards, speak with an experienced attorney. A personal injury lawyer from Altman & Altman will be able to tell you whether or not you might be entitled to compensation. Our experienced attorneys know every aspect of personal injury law, as our firm has been in practice for more than 50 years. At Altman & Altman, we pride ourselves on innovation and superior client service. Our clients appreciate our compassion and attentiveness, and we believe that that is a large part of our success in Boston and throughout Massachusetts.

Call the personal injury attorneys of Altman & Altman LLP at 617.492.3000 or 800.481.6199 toll-free, or contact us online for a free consultation. We are available 24/7 to answer any questions that you might have regarding your case.